News

New Race Leader at Tour of Beijing

Tue 15 Oct 2013

Benat Intxausti (Movistar) won the queen stage of the Tour of Beijing atop Mentougou Miaofeng Mountain. The Spaniard earned a 10” bonus for the stage four victory and held off a fast-closing Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) by 3” to move into the race lead. Cameron Meyer was the best-placed rider for ORICA-GreenEDGE, crossing the finish line in 1’55 behind Intxausti in 36th place.

“There’s not too much to say from our camp,” admitted White, who had hoped Meyer would challenge for a place in the top ten overall with a strong result on Monday’s queen stage. “As usual, there was an early break of riders. Five or six others went off the front in search of points as we came to the top of the first cat one climb.”

“Wes [Wesley Sulzberger] was going head to head with Caruso [Cannondale] for the KOM jersey,” explained White. “He and Mitch [Docker] went off the front with that second group. Caruso and a few others made it across to the break. Wes and Mitch gave it a good shot, but they eventually ended up back in the bunch.”

Following the early attempt to claim KOM points, the team turned its attention to looking after Meyer ahead of the finale. They hoped to allow him to conserve until the last climb.

“The guys did a good job looking after Cam,” said White. “They put him in a good position heading into the climb, but he just didn’t have it today. I know he was a little disappointed about that.”

“Tuesday’s our last chance,” White continued. “We’ll probably put Cam in the break. With so many guys so close on time, a lot of teams will be searching for added seconds that will be the difference between fourth or fifth and ninth or tenth.”

Michael Matthews withdrew from the Tour of Beijing mid-stage. With Matthews out, Docker will step into the leadership role on stage five.

“We’ll look after Mitch in the sprint,” said White. “Michael Matthews succumbed to stomach problems and didn’t finish the stage. We’ll give Mitch another opportunity. He got third earlier this week, so we’re happy to put our eggs in his basket in the final.”